Ding!-Hidden Parameter met, Acquire all Innate Knowledge From [System Shop]. t.i.tle awarded to [User].
t.i.tle: [Truth Seeker]-
[Truth Seeker: Doubles the learning speed of new magic to comprehension. Increases Intelligence +3]
"Holy s.h.i.t. Holy s.h.i.t. Okay system, you"ve been too good to me. What"s the catch? I don"t feel right getting this much," thought Donis wearily.
"Maybe I"m just jaded after the recent events.." he added on.
Having this will further his plans of becoming strong enough to protect everyone.
"If I don"t buy abilities from the [System Shop], this will become absolutely invaluable in understanding how spells and abilities work in general. It says to comprehension, so does that mean until I gain the skill, or until I master it? I guess I"ll practice with [Void Sense] and get my answer one way or another," thought Donis.
Activating [Void Sense] and keeping his eyes open, Donis noticed an immediate difference. There was no more discomfort. He could easily perceive both sensations and there was no tension mentally nor visually. It was like he had always had an extra sense. Deciding on keeping this on at all times, Donis had another look at the t.i.tle.
"This +3 Intelligence though seems to be an insane buff. It added over 100 mana to my mana pool and made using [Void Sense] and actual breeze. I wonder if this works on all spells. Will using things just be straight up easier now? Aah, I can"t wait to get back to studying," a.n.a.lysed Donis.
With those out of the way, Donis was eager to try all of his new bits of magic. The [Mana Charging] ended up adding a new counter to the Mana Stat.
[Charge: 0/20]
"I feel like this may be something to do with either using it to store specifically charged mana, such as Void Mana, or maybe an extra top off to my mana stat? Huh, let"s test it out," thought Donis.
After guiding his will around his body the way the pseudo memories taught him to, his body greedily sucked in the raw mana around him. Unfortunately, it was a miniscule amount, but the ability itself had an insane amount of levels. It was potentially an incredible buy, but it"ll take time to achieve max proficiency in this. Thankfully, Donis had lots of time. He already had a 5 year head start over everyone.
Next up was [Mana Breathing]. This one just increased his intake of the mana from outside into his body, and increased his ability to use his breath as a transformer of mana type.
This intrigued him to no end. It no longer cost him mana to change the type of mana he used, nor it"s basic attributes as long as it came out of his mouth.
"This is such an odd ability. Why specifically my mouth? I"m incredibly glad to have it though, because my dream of becoming a fire breathing dragon may still have hope!" Donis laughed internally.
Continuing on, all that was left were the [Innate Knowledge] goodies. His mind swept over the instinctual understanding of the world around him.
The call of the earth, the power in the wind, the strength in the water, the rage in fire, the calm in the light, the excitement in lightning, the solitude in darkness. This was his understanding of the elements. His mind attuning with each sense of the mana surrounding him. The world is shining, at all times, these beautiful scenes constantly speak and dance yet no one hears them. The world is putting on a show, and Donis can finally see.
The spirits now call to him too. The dead, the alive, the in-between beckon Donis"s mind and soul. The spiritual song enveloping his being, caressing his soul. The gentle hum in the background, the omniscient beck and call of all life. It ruled in it"s dichotomy. It was death, and it was life.
Combining the sensations that he could perceive with his [Innate Void Knowledge], even the empty s.p.a.ces, devoid of anything he had seen so far, became full of cracks and points. It interacted with the [Innate Etheric Knowledge], a deeper understanding of it"s laws combining with the laws of the former. Ethereal magic was magic of life, of death, and now he understood it was magic of time. It continued forever, unabated eternally.
As the profound knowledge coalesced within Donis, his greed for more resurfaced once again. He knew that the increase in Intelligence had allowed all of this. It seems that his mind becomes broader with each stat increase, and getting a +3 bonus shot up his stats to an incredible degree.
***
A few hours later.
A knock resounded on the door of the Laurents household. Priscilla went and opened the door only to find Corvig Deladare standing before her. He was dressed in his usual attire, with that gorgeous scarf adorning his heroic figure. Ever since he brought back Donis safe, the girls of the household all simultaneously gained crushes on him. To them he was the most brave knight of the stories they heard before being put to bed.
"h.e.l.lo Priscilla. Are your parents home?" Corvig said with a smile that seemed to melt the girl. She blushed heavily and ran back to get Morissa and Korrin. They let him in and guided him to Donis, who at this point had long sensed their approach with [Void Sense]. He had stopped being enamoured by the sensations of the world and prepared himself to look like a "busy" 6 year old.
Corvig came in and noticed that Donis at least was pretending to be okay. Over the time that Donis was there, Corvig had picked up the fact that Donis was far more mature than he let on. He noticed that the kid was awfully mature when caught unaware, quickly perking back into his "usual" kid mode after making small blunders. Seeing Donis carefully play with his toys only made Corvig more worried.
Closing the door behind him and waiting for his parents to no longer be within earshot, Corvig sat down. "Donis, I know you"re not okay. You"d never play with toys over practicing magic. I know you"re still shaken up, and that"s okay. We"ll find out the people who did this to you," said Corvig with a painful smile on his face.
"Thank you teacher! I"m still sad, but I feel a lot better because you saved me! He was so so so so bad.. I hated him and you saved me!" said Donis with tears starting to well up in his eyes.
"It"s okay Donis, come here," Corvig gestured to come for a hug.
Within Corvigs embrace Donis felt a tug at his heart. The teacher he"s had all this time actually grew to care for him, and he grew to look up to him. He"s not certain if the hormones of his kid body are affecting him or not, but he now knew that Corvig was a lifelong friend. Thinking of this, he had to make a choice, tell him about [Inventory] or make up a lie. Either way he had to tell Corvig about what he knew of Castans ties to Raul.
"Teacher... I"m not sure if you know this already, but when I was locked up, I heard the man you disappeared talk about selling me to Ca.. Castan Magisterium? I think it"s called Castan.. but I"m sure you guys knew this. Also.." said Donis, pausing lightly.
"Teacher I"ve a secret. You never said anything about people having a thing called [Inventory] in their Systems... I have one and I stole this off of that bad man.."
Before Corvig could truly process what was being said to him about [Inventory], Donis had a parchment paper appear in his hands. Corvigs shock only reared it"s heard for but a moment when it comes to this child. He knew he likely had many secrets, but never pried too deeply.
Taking the parchment paper in hand, Corvig could immediately tell that this was [Pigeon Paper] and his face turned serious. After an intense silence from Corvigs side, he stood up. Donis was a little surprised by the coldness that emanated from his teacher, but what came out of him next surprised him even further.
"The f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from Castan have grown this conceited. Lorenzo is going to enjoy this, and so will I," spoke Corvig slowly, half the words being drawn between his teeth.
Quickly calming down, putting on his best smile, Corvig turned to Donis and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you, Donis. I don"t know what this [Inventory] is, but if it"s what I think it is, you"ll need to keep it a secret. You"re already wanted by rivalry Magisteriums for your blessing, I don"t want them to have any more reasons to come after you," Corvig said gently.
"If Castan knows about you, then everyone else does too. I don"t know how the info got out, nor do I know who the rat is, but with the parchment you stole from the Merc captain, we"ll have a much easier time finishing up this investigation. You"ll have nothing to fear if Lorenzo sets an example for others to heed."
Donis breathed a sigh of relief. He had been tense the whole time, there were so many questions unanswered, but maybe by trusting Corvig, he"d be able to get the answers he"s looking for.
The two ended up chatting for a little while, making sure that Donis is okay and setting up the next study session. Corvig also told Morissa and Korrin that he"ll be taking care of the carriage fees himself from now on, and making sure the people are verified through many, many rigorous background checks.
The family breathing a sigh of relief thanked Corvig. They were terrified of their boy getting kidnapped again, but they also didn"t want to stunt his future by keeping him homebound. This was the perfect compromise for them, as at least they"d have some sort of a.s.surance that Donis will be okay.
Donis beyond excited to join back into studying every day with his newfound intellect, could only hop skip and dance around the house once he found out his parents had accepted Corvigs offer.
"With the next few years of study, I"m definitely going to reach the top in the Academy. I will not fall behind, nor will I stay down. I don"t entirely know what"s in store for me, but I"m going to become stronger. Strong enough to defend my loved ones."